Intro - LdyBastet

[ldybastet]

Hi, I'm ldybastet, here and on LJ and AO3. I've been part of this merry group for two years or so, I think. It's been a great help as I've been wrestling with my writing.

I'm a slow writer, not at all good at churning out thousands of words each day, or even each week. (No NaNoWriMo for me!) But I am plodding on, and adding words little by little. A persistent writer's block keeps popping up to make things difficult at times, but I have learned a few tricks... Mostly though, I know that stress is killing my creativity.

I started writing fanfic in 2003, in LotR fandom, because someone said I could never write the Balrog of Moria/Witch-King of Angmar slash, and make it sort of believable. I just had to prove them wrong. ;) Since then, I've mostly written porn, lots of kink, and mostly one-shots in a number of fandoms (HP being the largest of them). I just can't write huge, long fics of Big Bang length so those challenges are right out for me. And deadlines paralyzes me. Sadly, I'm also one of the world's top procrastinators! So it's easiest for me to write when not alone, but when someone else is also writing and I know I have to produce a word count.

To feed my own (and my friends') need for kinky, porny prompts and challenges, I started a slash-friendly kink challenge here on DW when kink bingo went on hiatus last year: seasonofkink. It's proven to be a never-ending well of fun prompts, and I have a few bingo cards here that I still need to fill completely. So, I expect my list of bunnies to grow as I get more ideas for them! :D

Right now, I'm writing mostly for a Japanese rock band fandom (the GazettE), so it's all about the RPF for me, with the occasional detour into a few anime/manga fandoms.

Comments

[wordstitch]

Heya! =) seasonofkink sounds great! Maybe if I finish enough plot bunnies I will check it out!

Do you have any recs for Gazette songs? I'm studying Japanese and find that having new songs to listen to and dissect really helps me get better.

[ldybastet]

Hey! It has certainly made me write lots more this last year than the previous one! Next round for it starts up in June, so you have time! LOL

OMG! I have so many! LOL It all depends on my mood which ones I love the most, but a few that I always love and would love others to love as well:

Yoin from Division
The Tiny Stupid Insect, and Last Heaven from Beautiful Deformity
13 Stairs[-1], and Nakigahara from DIM
Chizuru, and Swallowtail on the Death Valley from Stacked Rubbish
The Suicide Circus, and My Devil on the Bed from Toxic

I study Japanese too, and my motivation to keep going is actually this band. LOL There used to be people translating interviews etc, but they've stopped and now only the band members tweets get translated. So... if I want to find out more "canon material", I'll just have to be able to read and understand Japanese myself!

[wordstitch]

Thanks!!

Ooh, how far along are you in your studies? I'm pretty much done with the genki I & II type of material so I guess I'm intermediate-level in terms of grammar, and I've been using WaniKani (if you haven't heard of it and can afford it--and don't know very many kanji yet I highly recommend it!! it's about $8 a month now, I think, or $80 a year). Being able to read and translate stuff that isn't translated anywhere else is my biggest motivation too! If you ever need someone to practice speaking with, I'm totally up for it =)

[ldybastet]

I'm sort of mixed, because I've studied on and off by myself (no classes) for about four years now, using all kinds of material (a book here, and audio course there, a vid course there, a handful phone apps here LOL). But more organised, I'm almost through Genki I, only. But alongside that, I've learned lots of vocab through apps and Memrise online, and a few hundred kanji. :) Sentence structure is still my biggest weakness. I find it hard to translate from Japanese to something resembling English. *grin*

WaniKani sounds interesting, have to look into that! :D

And hey! I'd love some speaking/writing practise!!! God knows I need it! I feel like a 5 year old writing a letter to granma every time I try to put sentences together! LOL

[wordstitch]

Do you use lang-8? If you don't already I think you absolutely should! Let me know if you sign-up/have an account and I'll add you =)

I knew only about 200 kanji when I started WK, but now know almost 900 (I've been a member for 11 months). It starts off slow if you know a few hundred already, so it may not be your thing, but it does teach you the various readings and also some vocab, though it doesn't go into grammar. If you're okay learning vocab and kanji through memrise and apps, I would say don't go for it. Also, if you don't have A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, the yellow one released by Japan Times, I highly recommend it! It's the best grammar reference that you'll find anywhere, especially great if you want to do translations of things. Here's a review of it.

Hit me up on gchat or skype anytime! My skype name is crystalusagi, and gchat is crystalusagi (at) gmail.

(Sorry for rambling on and on. I'm totally obsessed with studying Japanese ahaha XD)

[ldybastet]

I think I made an account there ages ago, but then I felt too shy and uncomfortable even trying to use it. I just felt so stupid making a lot of mistakes, which is really neurotic because one is allowed to make mistakes there! LOL I'll have to see if I can remember my name and login!

Oh, I've heard about that book! Sounds like I really hsould get a copy! I ordered a sentence structure book last week, but it was delayed... It's supposed to have a lot of examples and explanations, so. I hope that can help me. :)

Will do!!! I'm at my parents' atm, looking after their house and pets while they're abroad in the sunshine (bastards! leaving me in the snow and cold!), but I'll be home in a week or so with access to skype etc.

(haha! Ramble on! I am obsessed as well! I love learning Japanese and I'm always frustrated with my lack of progress!)

[wordstitch]

Yeah, seeing the first few corrections on your posts can be really daunting. But I promise you that you'll improve markedly after a time, because practice helps drill the correct sentence patterns in your head!

Oh, which one did you get?

(Me too! Nothing I do ever seems to propel me forward fast enough. There's like an annual challenge on the jref site or something, kind of like this community with weekly check-ins and stuff, but nothing like that for LJ or DW, I think. I'm really tempted to create something like that, just for motivation and geekery for those of us struggling through our Japanese studies on our own. 一緒に頑張りましょうね！)

[ldybastet]

You're probably right! :D One of the downsides to not taking classes and having a teacher: no one to ask and no one to correct you. Upsides of not taking classes and having a teacher: no homework and you can go at your own pace. ;)

Um, I can't remember? LOL It's probably waiting for me back home!

Oh, a comm like that sounds like lots of fun! If you start one, I'll join!! LOL はい！

[leidmotief]

Hi! I'm also a procrastinator and I take long to write, but last year I gave NaNo a try and I made it. It surprised me because I thought I wasn't made to write as much, even if I had to start a bunch of different stories because my main idea wasn't enough. I haven't really become faster ever since and now I write at the same pace than before, but it was an interesting experiment. Good luck with your projects! Kinky is good. ;)

[ldybastet]

Hi! :) Wow, congratulations on the NaNo thing! I am always impressed by people who manage that! :D I'm glad if I manage 150words in a day, so I'd be far behind even from day 1. LOL

Thank you!!! :D

[no_apologies]

Don't sweat it about being a slow writer. I'm that kind of writer, and I say any progress is better than none at all. It's nice to take your time on fiction, and fuss over it as often as you like. :) (Also, I just hate rushing on most things.)

J-Rock is awesome, and there's a handful of anime/manga fandoms I consider to be favorites.

I used to be on LJ a lot. I'm also on AO3 I think, under "Darkwriter00". It's the same pen name on fanfiction.net--which I update more on, since I seem to get more positive comments from people there. :D

[ldybastet]

Yes, that is a good point, any progress should be celebrated! :D I think I suffer a little from over-thinking syndrome though, like "is this the word I mean, maybe there is a better one?" ;) But that could be partly because English isn't my first language.

Oh! You like JRock too?! :D Nice!!! Any particular favourite artists/bands?

I never got onto ff.net, because everyone I knew back when I started writing were on LJ. But now I wonder where all the writers in my fandoms have gone! LJ is so quiet and empty these days.

[no_apologies]

Haha, sometimes I tend to over-think a little myself. It's also important to not use the same words over and over.

Let's see... Well I like certain songs from anime soundtracks. I know I like Beat Crusaders (some great ones by them from the Beck Mongolian Chop Squad series), Abingdon Boys School did an awesome opening theme during the first half of Darker Than Black, season one... I can't remember anyone else right now. I've seen a handful of anime, and usually I end up liking their soundtracks a lot.

Aww that's too bad! FF.net has some really good writers on there! I used to go to LJ often but...not so much anymore. I did a lot of roleplay writing with buddies over there, and then I've drifted from it almost entirely. I still use my old account for scrapbook album things, because I've got loads of funny pictures I saved and organized into various scrapbooks. Once in a while, I comment on another friend's LJ.